Report: Nearly 50% of phishing attacks in 2021 aimed at government employees were attempted credential theft

In response to Lookout’s 2022 Authorities Menace Report, cellular phishing and machine vulnerability threat inside U.S. authorities companies (federal, state and native) is on the rise. Actually, virtually 50% of all phishing assaults geared toward authorities personnel in 2021 sought to steal staff’ credentials, up from 30% in 2020.

Along with the rise in phishing assaults on authorities staff, the report’s findings embrace:

• Federal, state, and native governments elevated their reliance on unmanaged cellular units at a price of 55% from 2020 to 2021, indicating a transfer towards BYOD to help a bigger distant workforce.
• One in eight authorities staff had been uncovered to phishing threats. With greater than two million federal authorities staff alone, this represents a big potential assault floor because it solely takes one profitable phishing try to compromise a whole company.
• There was a gradual rise in cellular phishing encounter charges for state and native governments throughout each managed and unmanaged units, growing at charges of 48% and 25% respectively from 2020 to 2021. This regular climb continued by means of the primary half of 2022.
• Menace actors are gaining in sophistication, with 16% of phishing assaults additionally trying to ship malware.
• Almost 50% of state and native authorities staff are working outdated Android working methods, exposing them to tons of of machine vulnerabilities. Nevertheless, that is an enchancment over 99% in 2021.

Phishing assaults on authorities are particularly impactful

Authorities organizations retailer and transmit a wide range of delicate information, the safety of which is important to the wellbeing of tons of of thousands and thousands of individuals. A breach of a authorities company that ends in leaked information, stolen credentials or a pressured halt to operations as a consequence of ransomware can have a disproportionate affect in comparison with a typical cybersecurity incident.

Moreover, authorities staff use iOS, Android and ChromeOS units on daily basis to remain productive and enhance effectivity. This makes them targets for cyberattackers as their units are a treasure trove of knowledge and a gateway to authorities infrastructure. Due to the non-public nature of smartphones, tablets and Chromebooks, endpoint safety should defend the consumer, the machine and the group whereas respecting consumer privateness.

“It’s extra necessary than ever for presidency companies to maintain tempo with the evolution of the cyber risk atmosphere,” mentioned Tony D’Angelo, vp, Americas Public Sector, Lookout. “No matter whether or not units are managed, defending these fashionable endpoints requires a special strategy — one that’s constructed from the bottom up for cellular. Solely a contemporary endpoint safety answer can detect cellular threats in apps, machine working methods, and community connections whereas additionally defending in opposition to phishing assaults that steal credentials and ship malware.”

Methodology

The Lookout Authorities Menace Report is predicated on evaluation of knowledge particular to federal, state, and native authorities organizations from the Lookout Safety Graph. The graph, which incorporates telemetry information from evaluation of greater than 205 million units and greater than 175 million apps, enabled Lookout to determine and break down essentially the most distinguished cellular threats companies confronted in 2021 and the primary half of 2022. Info used on this report was compiled from de-identified, aggregated Lookout information.

Learn the complete report from Lookout.